OUTLAW: GANGSTER VIP

Toshio Masuda,
Japan,
1968, Arrow Films

In 1968, acclaimed director Toshio Masuda (RUSTY KNIFE, TORA! TORA! TORA!) and rising star Tetsuya Watari (TOKYO DRIFTER) teamed up for OUTLAW: GANGSTER VIP, a gritty yakuza yarn based on the writings of real life ex-gangster Goro Fujita. The resulting six-film series offers up a depiction of the Japanese underworld unprecedented in its sympathetic portrayal of a man haunted by his past, unable to escape a life of crime. The films’ new realism prefigures Fukasaku’s BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY series with their winning combination of brutal violence, gang warfare and sweeping romance, making for an unforgettable viewing experience.

The cycle’s first film stars Tetsuya Watari as Goro, a gangster sent to prison for three years for stabbing a hitman from rival gang The Aokis. Upon his release, Goro finds out his gang is in decline and learns that the hitman he stabbed is still alive.